Start of 2020 and the Covid-19 Virus

We had big plans for the start of 2020 - we were booking our Sweden trip, planning plenty of camping holidays and looking forward to Rugby and Soccer restarting.  But the world had different ideas.

In early 2020 we started hearing about the Corona Virus, as flu-like disease that was identified in Wuhan, China.  There were a few stories on the news, but nothing too major - especially as far off in Australia.  By January 30th it because a Health Emergency of International Concern and by 11th of March it was a Pandemic.

The virus rapidly spread through China and then formed a new epidemic in Italy, where we watched as lock downs were enforced and people were confined to their homes to stop the spread.  The disease was not particularly fatal, but it was very contagious and hospitals were becoming overloaded with cases that required respiratory care. Because the disease spread so fast, even a small percentage of cases needing medical care was enough to overload hospitals and stretch medical facilities to the limit.

As the case numbers and death tolls rose, we watched as it spread through Europe, to the UK and America.  Most countries began to enforce social distancing, cancelling travel, closing borders and outlawing events for more than 10 people.  Funerals were restricted to a maximum of ten attendees, cinemas, bars and sporting events were closed and public gatherings cancelled.

The main purpose behind these measures was to "flatten the curve".  By spreading out the number of infections, the health system would be more able to deal with a flat curve than a large peak of cases at once.

Australia is relatively isolated and for a while it looked like we would escape most it, but cruise ships and international flyers brought cases into the country. South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia managed to escape a majority of the cases, but the east coast had the lions share.  Corona Virus (or Covid-19 as it is called) was first detected in Australia in January and by mid March the borders were closing and people began to work from home where possible.

My work started with day-on-day-off rosters but by the end of March we were full time work from home - only starting to transition back to the office by the end of May.

As of the 25th of May, pubs, cinemas and public events remain cancelled - however they are starting to reopen with limits on the number of people and 1.5 meter social distancing rules.  Campsites have just begun to reopen and major sports are starting to allow non-contact training with limitations.

At the start of 2020 I became treasurer of the rugby club, after a few trainings the season was put on hold for the Covid-19 emergency and all bar and canteen facilities were stopped.  This made finances for the club interesting as we still had bills but now had no income.  This was the case for lots of small businesses and clubs - many switching to offering take-away or online services in a bid to keep afloat.

At the start of May the rugby club was allowed to commence training again, however the field was divided into three sections with a maximum of 10 players per section.  Players needed to remain only in their sections, wash hands before and after, remain at least 1.5m apart and not hang around after training.  Training was limited to ball work and running - no contact.  It is thought that the season may begin again in June.


Personally, this emergency has caused us some problems with our travel plans.  Last last year we started booking a big trip to Sweden with plans to travel through Germany and France. We booked everything in advance and since we had travel insurance we did not pay extra to allow for cancellation of some parts of the trip.   Covid-19 has caused most countries to close borders and prevent travel, and since it is considered a Pandemic, any losses are excluded from the travel insurance which does not cover pandemics.  This wasn't an issue when we booked in 2019, but became a big problem now.

Fortunately we managed to cancel many things without a loss, but we ended up losing about $1500 on cancellation fees for accomodation, $750 on travel insurance we can't use and are still waiting to see what happens with our flights - hopefully we can delay them and use them next year.

Covid-19 in Australia (May 2020)